Foot Converter

About Feet (ft)

The foot (symbol: ft) is a unit of length in the imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to 12 inches or one-third of a yard. Since 1959, the international foot has been defined as exactly 0.3048 meters.

The "foot" as a unit of measure has ancient origins, used by civilizations like the Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and English. Historically, its length varied significantly, often based on the length of a human foot (such as a king's foot). The international agreement in 1959 standardized the foot, crucial for global trade and scientific consistency.

Feet are commonly used for:

• Measuring human height (e.g., 5 ft 10 in).
• Dimensions in construction and real estate (e.g., room size, plot length).
• Altitude in aviation (e.g., "flying at 30,000 feet").
• Distances in sports (e.g., length of a football field in yards, which are multiples of feet).
• Boating (e.g., length of a boat).
• In some countries, for road signs indicating shorter distances or heights.

• 1 foot = 12 inches (in)
• 3 feet = 1 yard (yd)
• 5,280 feet = 1 statute mile (mi)

In technical fields like engineering and architecture, feet are often expressed with decimal subdivisions (e.g., 10.5 ft) or as feet and inches (e.g., 10' 6").

To help visualize a foot:

• A standard 12-inch ruler is exactly 1 foot long.
• An adult men's US size 11-12 shoe is typically around 1 foot in length.
• A standard sheet of A4 paper (210mm x 297mm) is slightly shorter than 1 foot in length (297mm ≈ 0.974 ft).
• Many floor tiles are 1 foot by 1 foot.